There's no place like home.

Friday, December 30, 2011

Matthew doesn't feel well today. You know the drill; achy, fever, tummy ache. So I asked his brother the

Special Forces Medic to take a look in his ears and throat just in case there is a need to take him up to the Dr. before they close for the day. Watching him in action didn't instill a lot of confidence in his mother's heart.

Of course it is his brother that he was examining and Matthew is not really seriously ill so....

I guess that leaves a lot of room for some brotherly horsing around.

Does that mean that Matthew can't feel too bad or that his big brother has the magic touch?

Monday, December 19, 2011

This elf is done with this particular assignment. Below are the dresses that I created for a little girl's American Girl doll. I hope that she has fun with these outfits and that her doll looks stunning in them.

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Ater lunch, when the men have been working hard, they like to take a short nap before going back outside to work. Layn doesn't like that idea, not one bit. His daddy is there and available to play with him so forget about this whole sleep business. Besides, how can you resist such cuteness?

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Today Matthew and Brett went outside to hang the Christmas lights on the front of the house for me. While they were out there I couldn't resist going out to see how things were going. They both have a unique way of doing things.

Matthew chose to forego the ladder and simply hung from the rafter by one hand and manipulated the lights with the other. I could visualize the headlines: Boy Knocked Unconscious While Decking the Halls!!

Brett is the "Discretion is the better part of valour" type. He stayed on terra firma and "critiqued" Matthew's work.

I was recently hired to play Santa and make some American Girl style outfits for a doll that a little girl is getting for Christmas. The doll is the character Kitt whose story is from the 1930's. I checked out the website and selected some of the fashions pictured there.

Pictured here is the nightgown for Kitt and my attempt to copy it. Not too bad since I was using only a picture and adapting a pattern.

This is one of the dresses pictured for Kitt and my attempt to copy it. Again I was going by the picture and adapting a pattern.

That's two down and three more outfits to go. Santa and I have been spending a lot of together and it doesn't look like we are going to part company any time soon.

Monday, December 5, 2011

I returned from South Carolina Saturday evening. The funeral for my father was not only extremely devout, the way that he would have wanted it to be, but also the vast majority of his family was there. After the funeral two of my sons and his eldest son formed an honor guard and presented my mother with the American flag in honor of my father's service in the Air Force. Another of my brothers played Taps on his trumpet. My dad would have warred with his humble self and the justified pride he felt at seeing his progeny thus displayed.

After that bit of ceremony was over a good time was had by all celebrating the life of a man who started out as an orphan, carried a desire for a large family, and managed to attain not only his dream but to accomplish all that and pass on his deep and abiding faith in God.
And so we all return to our lives saddened because we personally miss the man who raised us and set us on the courses that we follow today and yet so much more because he was the man that he was.

Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed rest in peace. AMEN.